Radioactivity-Synchronized Fluorescence Enhancement Using a Radionuclide Fluorescence-Quenched Dye

Abstract

We demonstrate the first evidence of radioactivity-synchronized fluorescence quenching of a near-infrared light-emitting dye by a radionuclide, ⁶⁴Cu, and subsequent fluorescence enhancement upon ⁶⁴Cu decay to the daughter isotopes ⁶⁴Ni and ⁶⁴Zn. The dynamic switch from high radioactivity and low fluorescence to low radioactivity and high fluorescence is potentially useful for developing complementary multimodal imaging and detection platforms for chemical, environmental, and biomedical applications as well as for unraveling the mechanisms of metal-induced dynamic fluorescence changes.